A new EPA study shows concentrations of toxic chemicals in fish tissue from lakes and reservoirs in nearly all 50 U.S. states. For the first time, EPA is able to estimate the percentage of lakes and reservoirs nationwide that have fish containing potentially harmful levels of chemicals such as mercury and PCBs.

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/study/

The U.S. Forest Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissionare seeking public input on a long-term management plan being developed for the Silver Glen Springs. The goals are to provide for compatible recreational use and the health and safety of visitors, while protecting the spring's natural and cultural resources. They are looking for specific comments, ideas or experiences about what people want in terms of desired conditions in the run and adjacent lands.

http://www.myfwc.com/NEWSROOM/09/northeast/News_09_NE_SilverGlenSprgsInput1.htm

Charlotte County Utilities residential customers are now eligible to participate in a toilet rebate program aimed at conserving water. The toilet rebate program, which is cooperatively funded by the county and the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Peace River Basin Board, offers rebates to replace high-volume toilets with water-efficient, low-flow toilets or high-efficiency toilets. Low-flow toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush or less while high-efficiency toilets use about 1.28 gallons per flush. Residential customers must be current Charlotte County Utilities water customers with toilets that were made and installed before 1995 and use 3.5 gallons of water or more per flush. Up to two toilets per household may be replaced. Participants must request a rebate application and receive approval before replacing their toilet. All program guidelines, including a post-installation inspection of both the old and new toilets, must also be followed. Rebates are available to single-family customers at $100 per toilet. Up to two toilets per household may be replaced. This project is estimated to provide potable water savings of 28,470 gallons per day or 10.4 million gallons per year. This is the second year of a potential 5-year effort. The program is expected to cost $114,020. As part of the agreement, Charlotte County will receive up to $57,010 in grant funding from the District’s Peace River Basin Board. The program includes educational materials that focus on leak detection and proper flapper replacement to help consumers maximize the water-saving capabilities of their toilets. For more information about the Charlotte County Toilet Rebate Program, interested customers should call 1-888-843-9832.

http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/news/article/1370/

Florida homeowners have many reasons to consider converting their existing residential landscape to a Florida-Friendly Landscape. Most importantly, a Florida-Friendly yard is an environmentally sound yard that conserves and protects Florida's waterways, soil, wildlife, and energy. Using the right plants in the right place can filter harmful stormwater runoff, improve the landscape's soil, provide wildlife habitat, and create shade for energy efficiency in the home. Landscaping also adds beauty and creates pleasant outdoor living spaces to increase the value of residential property. (Figures 1A and IB demonstrate a Florida Friendly landscape renovation in a residential development in Osprey, Fla., in 2009.)

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP396

Many Florida communities experience periodic water shortages or have serious concerns about balancing water usage and supplies (Goodnough 2007). As the state seeks to balance economic growth and development with protection of its natural resources, managing water becomes a high priority for policy makers and utility managers. This document discusses alternative strategies that can be used by water utility managers to balance water demand and supply in the residential sector, which accounts for roughly 37 percent of Florida's freshwater use (Marella 2008).

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FE811

The Database and Programming Teams have just added a "rate this component" tool on the upper right of each Water Atlas component. The ratings will be reviewed and used to guide future work effort. The aggregated rating will not be available to general users, however, if our Water Atlas partners would like to see the results, just send us a request. Great Work Teams!

When residents set their clocks back one hour this weekend, the Southwest Florida Water Management District would like them to also check the timers on their irrigation system controllers. All 16 counties within the District are under one-day-per-week lawn watering restrictions. Unless your city or county already has stricter hours in effect, residents may only water before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. In addition to checking your irrigation timer, it is also a good time to inspect your irrigation system For additional information about water restrictions, water conservation and the drought, please visit the District's web site at the link below. www.watermatters.org/drought/

http://www.watermatters.org/drought/

The new Water Quality Contour Mapping Tool is available for use on the Tampa Bay Water Atlas. Funded by the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission, the tool allows users to create their own custom contour map of Tampa Bay using any of the data available on the Atlas. Users can generate maps for any time period for one of the five predetermined water quality parameters, including dissolved oxygen, salinity, chlorophyll, color and secchi depth. Users can also peruse other maps created by other Atlas users. The tool may be expanded for use in other coastal areas and may also be redesigned for use with specific lakes as well. Therefore, your feedback regarding the functionality of the tool is important to us. So, please test it out and let us know what you think. Happy Mapping!

http://www.tampabay.wateratlas.usf.edu/Contour/

Contact

Rich Hammond, GIS Team Leader,  Florida Center for Community Design and Research, hammond@arch.usf.edu

Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute will reward anglers as much as $200 per returned tag from black crappie caught in Lake Griffin. Hundreds of fish in the lake carry small, yellow tags marked with a value of $5 or $200 as well as a printed telephone number and tag number. Biologists placed the tags in the body of the fish just below the dorsal fin. Some crappie may have more than one tag. If a fish contains two tags, anglers will receive payment for both tags. The tag project is an interactive way for the public to assist biologists with the research necessary to manage the black crappie fishery. For this project, anglers are encouraged to remove the tag and treat the fish as they would normally. Anglers should mail the tags to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 601 W. Woodward Ave., Eustis, FL, 32726. Anglers must provide their name, address, phone number and signature. They’re also requested to include specific details of their catch: the tag number, catch date, name of the lake where the fish was caught, and whether the fish was kept or released. An FWC employee will telephone the angler for a Social Security number, required for processing the reward. For more information, call 352-357-2951.